Coyotes News

Doan Rooting for Stanley Cup Final to Reach Game 7

GLENDALE – Like most NHL fans, Coyotes captain Shane Doan is hoping the Stanley Cup Final between the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins plays out to its extreme.

Pittsburgh leads the series, three games to two, with Game 6 set for Sunday at the SAP Center in San Jose.

“You hope (the Sharks) can go home and force a Game 7,” Doan said after Game 5 on Thursday night, speaking as a guest on “Sports Tonight,” a TV program produced and aired by NBC’s affiliate in Phoenix. “I think everyone wants a Game 7.”

Doan said he has been impressed by the poise of goalies Matt Murray and Martin Jones considering their lack of postseason experience. San Jose’s Jones is 26 years old and had just two NHL postseason games on his resume before this season. Pittsburgh’s Murray is 22 and playing in his first Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Doan stopped short of telling host Cameron Cox which team he’s rooting for to win the Cup.

“I can enjoy it (watching the playoffs) because I’m the biggest fan and I love the sport,” Doan said. “I’m not picking a team. I really like San Jose because they’re in the west, but (Penguins coaches) Mike Sullivan and Rick Tocchet are guys I have connections with.”

Doan and Sullivan were teammates from 1998-2002 when Sullivan, a center, was a member of the Coyotes at the end of his 11-year NHL career. Doan said they were roommates on trips at one time and joked that Sullivan was quite the ice cream sundae aficionado on the road.

“To see him come in and do what he has done as a coach this year for them is incredible,” Doan said of Sullivan, who took over as head coach of the Penguins on Dec. 12 and has since guided them to the Cup final for the first time since 2009.

Near the end of Doan’s segment of the program, Cox asked the 39-year-old for an update on his contract talks with the Coyotes. Doan is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 but is hoping to have a new contract with Arizona before that date.

“We’ve talked and nothing has really came of it yet, but I’m sure something will,” Doan said. “It should be a pretty easy contract to get done. We both want the same thing – for me to come back.”